MontaVista Software Joins CE Linux Forum

Patricia Colby writes "SUNNYVALE, Calif., August 11, 2003 -- MontaVista Software Inc., the company powering the embedded revolution, today announced that it has been welcomed as a member of the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF), founded by major global consumer electronics companies last month. CELF intends to promote the use of the LinuxÃÂ® platform for digital consumer electronics devices and to develop and implement standards for a consumer electronics-specific Linux operating system.

Last December, Sony Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. announced their intention to establish such a forum. CELF was formally launched in early July, with these two founding companies. At that time, Hitachi, Ltd., NEC Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sharp Corporation and Toshiba Corporation joined the consortium as Appointed Members. MontaVista Software has now joined CELF as an Associate Member and will play a driving role in developing standards for the use of Linux in the digital consumer electronics market.

"It is wonderful that the world's leading suppliers of digital consumer devices have recognized the benefits of Linux to this market," said Jim Ready, CEO and president, MontaVista Software. "MontaVista Software is already working in various capacities with many of the leading companies in CELF including Matsushita, NEC, Philips, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba, and we fully support them in their drive to encourage use of Linux in consumer products."

Earlier this year, MontaVista Software, Inc. made available MontaVistaÃÂ® LinuxÃÂ® Consumer Electronics Edition (CEE) 3.0. CEE is the first quality Linux operating system and cross-development environment specifically designed for consumer electronics devices such as mobile phones, digital televisions, set-top boxes and automotive telematics. CEE already addresses many of the requirements outlined by CELF; specifically, reduced boot and shutdown times, improved real-time capabilities, reduced ROM/RAM size requirements and enhanced efficiency of power management. Going forward, MontaVista Software will actively participate in CELF's development of Linux standards and is committed to support those standards in its future consumer-related products. MontaVista Software believes its customers will benefit from having products that are in alignment with future specifications recommended by CELF.

MontaVista Linux Consumer Electronics Edition 3.0 enhances Linux with dynamic power management, rich consumer-focused networking support and consumer-grade reliability. Based on the 2.4.20 Linux kernel, CEE 3.0 incorporates DPM (Dynamic Power Management), support for XIP (eXecute In Place) of the kernel and applications, streaming media optimizations, the O(1) real-time scheduler and new MontaVista System Measurement Tools to measure system performance, timing and memory size. CEE also features bundled power-management-enabled driver support for peripherals including digital cameras, IrDA, MMC cards and USBs.

\sum MontaVista Graphics for CEE - A powerful network-enabled graphics system based on X Windows

About MontaVista Software

MontaVista Software is a leading global supplier of systems software for intelligent connected devices and associated infrastructure. MontaVista powers the embedded revolution by providing GNU/Linux-based open-source software solutions. Founded in 1999 by real-time operating system (RTOS) pioneer James Ready, MontaVista offers a family of products under the MontaVista Linux umbrella that address broad-based software developer needs encompassing applications ranging from communications infrastructure to consumer electronics. Multiple editions of MontaVista Linux are available including Professional, Consumer Electronics and Carrier Grade, along with complementary technology products providing powerful Java and graphics development capabilities.

Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Sunnyvale, Calif., MontaVista Software is a privately held company funded by leading investors such as Alloy Ventures, US Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, WR Hambrecht + Co., IBM, Intel Capital, Sony, Panasonic (Matsushita), Toshiba America and Yamaha Corporation. For more information about MontaVista Software, please visit http://www.mvista.com.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. MontaVista is a registered trademark of MontaVista Software, Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective companies.